


Influenced Panic

by KeepsakeKey, RedBird1991



Category: DCU
Genre: Cuddling, M/M, Nightmares, PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:46:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8033686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeepsakeKey/pseuds/KeepsakeKey, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedBird1991/pseuds/RedBird1991
Summary: Tim has an obsession with a specific show, and Jason invites him to watch it at his warehouse. Everything seems to be going fine until they learn that some shows make horrible background noise.





	Influenced Panic

Flickering lights from the TV reflected against the boy’s brilliant blue eyes as he stared at it intensely. 

_“He’s just another unsub. Start putting together a profile.”_  
_“What do you want me to do?”_  
_“Just keep working on this. If anyone can put it together, you can.”_

Tim loved watching Criminal Minds. It was the one show that he felt was the closest to actual crimes as any drama on TV could get. He was locked in. His eyes were wide with curiosity, his chin rested on his hand in thought. He was already calculating the suspects, narrowing down the probabilities, ingesting every ounce of information the beginning of the show was giving on the current case.

The title song played and it snapped Jason out of his own trance of staring at Tim and he looked back at the TV screen. Jason liked watching Criminal Minds every once in a while. He didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Tim did, who could marathon the show for weeks on end and never tire of it, but knowing that Tim enjoyed it so much drove him to always give it a chance when he grew tired of it himself. 

Jason had grown increasingly tired of it recently. The rest of the family had, as far as Tim had told him, banned Tim from watching the show. Ever. According to Tim, Bruce didn’t like the idea of watching a drama show that felt too close to real crimes they dealt with on a nightly basis. Alfred had voiced his distaste, but detached himself from the topic instead of pressing Timothy to find another show to watch. Dick had sat down to watch the show a few times with Tim, but could only take so much of it before he needed to watch something more light-hearted. Stephanie would lay around with him to watch the show for hours, but classes had started up again and free time was hard to come by. Damian made sure to mock the characters while standing directly behind Tim, who sat comfortably in the very middle of the couch, until Tim had had enough of hearing Damian insult Reid or Garcia that he had to pause the show to demand that Damian leave. Tim knew that that was Damian’s entire point of mocking the show in the first place. It made him stop watching long enough to pay attention to the brat. It never lasted long though. Tim would get so infuriated that he’d shut the TV off, pick up his laptop, and move to his room upstairs so he could watch alone. 

However, Tim didn’t like watching TV shows alone. There was something about it that made him feel more alone than he already felt some days. Sure, he could concentrate on the story more in the quiet of his own room, but it felt so lonely to watch a show in complete privacy. He hadn’t directly told Jason all that, but he’d thrown enough hints around that Jason picked up on it and offered to let Tim stay over at the warehouse when he wanted to watch the show while getting work done. 

Only problem was, Jason now understood exactly why everyone in the mansion was telling Tim to quit watching. He never actually got any work done. Well, that was a lie. He did get the work done, but it wasn’t while watching the show like he said he was going to do. It had been a week now and while, yes, it was a Friday evening and Tim didn’t have school in the morning, his laptop stayed open on the far end of the couch still displaying the unsolved cases and uncompleted profiles and lists with titles, but lonely bullet points. On top of that, it was 4PM. The both of them should be asleep right now, but he told Tim he’d stay awake with him to watch this damned show. The kid had a problem that he didn’t want to admit. Jason could relate to that, but that didn’t mean that it was a problem to be ignored and act like it didn’t affect the boy’s lack of sleep and health when those were already damaged by other bad daily habits.

Hm. Jason frowned at himself for thinking like that. Dammit. He let his back sink lower into the couch and switched his crossed, out-stretched legs on the table so his left was now under his right. 

Tim shifted back against the couch at Jason’s slight movement. His right shoulder laid gently against Jason’s left and the vigilante released a content sigh at the touch. He nudged his left arm out from under Tim’s back and lifted it up and over the top of the couch. Tim sunk back a little more against Jason, but his eyes were still locked onto the TV. 

Jason cocked his head down to try to see his Baby Bird’s face, but the black blue hair blocked his view until Tim laid his head back, brushing his hair against Jason’s jawline. Jason closed his eyes and turned his face to rest his cheek on Tim’s head. He really needed to sleep. They both needed to sleep. His eyes hurt. His body ached all over. It needed the rest and watching this show was preventing that. He listened to the chaos between the characters until they slowly faded into background noise.

Three more episodes in and Tim could feel Jason’s chest expand and retract with more volume than before. Still watching the TV, he shifted his head to the right just enough so that his ear laid against Jason’s neck and he listened for his heartbeat. The beats were slower, but normal, steady. Jason was asleep. Tim looked up towards Jason and _hmm’d._ No response. He lifted his right arm and laid it on Jason’s left leg then lightly tapped a finger against Jason’s knee. No response. He lifted his right leg onto the table and tapped Jason’s calf with his foot. No response. Tim sighed. Maybe he was watching this show for too long. He slowly turned his head again to the left and side-glanced at his laptop. It’s a good thing he set up his programs to auto-save because it was dead now. He could charge it up after another episode. 

Tim pursed his lips while debating his next subtle yet effective move to wake Jason up. He looked up at Jason again while he slid his hand to the inside of Jason’s leg, just above his knee. He shifted his gaze between the show and Jason as he used his thumb and middle finger and started slowly pinching Jay’s leg. He slightly increased the pressure of each slow pinch until he felt Jason’s chest puff up and the man let out a rough groan. 

The sound of the TV slowly filled Jason’s ears again. FBI talk, techy talk, screams, crying, ugh. Tim was still watching that show?  


“Hey.”  


Jason could only respond with a grunt as he rubbed his face harshly and lowered his left arm from the top of the couch to slump across Tim’s shoulders.  


“You can get some sleep. I’m gonna finish this episode then recharge my comp to finish work.” Jason opened his eyes to see those brilliant and innocent blue ones looking back at him. 

_Uh-huh. Sure, Baby Bird._ The kid wasn’t going to sleep any time soon unless Jason did something about it. Propping himself up straight again, he lazily pointed at the TV and mumbled, “Pause that for a second.” Tim made a face then reached for the remote on the table and clicked the pause button before looking back at Jason. 

Tim felt it coming. He huffed softly and prepared himself for Jason to tell him to quit watching his one favorite show. He tucked his knees to his chest, crossed his arms, and huddled closer into Jason’s arm fully knowing the touch wouldn’t last much longer. 

Green eyes tried connecting to blue ones, but the blue ones never looked up. Jason ruffled the side of Tim’s head, tangling his fingers in the longer black hair, and started his… Ugh, oh no. He didn’t want to admit it, but damn it all it was a speech. Okay? That’s what it was. That’s what he was preparing to say. He was going to lecture Tim with a stupid piece of shit speech. 

“Look,” he started, “Timmy, I know you enjoy this show and all. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a great show. I was enjoying it bef-” 

“Was…” Tim mumbled.  


“Well, yeah. _Was._ I’m exhausted. I need my beauty sleep.” Jason’s voice had an annoying amount of sassiness to it now.  


Tim turned his head away and ended up brushing his cheek on Jason’s hand. He kept it there. 

That sent Jason more than enough hints that Tim really didn’t want to be alone tonight for whatever reason. He brushed the back of his fingers against Tim’s cheek and gently guided Tim’s face around so Jason could look at him. He rested his hand on the back of Tim’s head as blue finally met green and he continued, “Baby bird.”  


Tim gulped at that.  


“I’m aware I can’t tell you to stop watching this show. You’re gonna do it anyways if you want to. I can’t stop you from doing that even if it is a stupid thing to do to watch a show instead of sleep. No wonder you’ve got sleeping issues…”  


Tim smirked.  


“But if I could just offer a suggestion? Er, I’m not really giving you a choice, but if you have to let it keep playing at least turn down the volume so I can get some shut eye, and you,” he poked his index finger into Tim’s nose and made the boy scrunch his face, “can get your work done well before patrol and maybe you’ll even have some time to take a cat-nap.”  


Tim giggled before responding. “Yeah, I can do that.” He looked back at the laptop, moved it to the table, then got up to retrieve the end of the charger. 

While Tim was up, Jason shrugged off his jacket and threw it forward, across the room, and towards his bedroom door. He kicked off his shoes and turned his position around so he could lean his back against the arm of the couch and propped his legs up on the armrest on the opposite side. He left his right leg hanging off the side of the couch so Tim had some sort of space to sit on when he got back. Speaking of the replacement… 

Tim entered the room, plugged the charger into the wall near the TV, and let the cord slide through his hand until he caught the end of it near the couch. He gave Jason a look and a, “Really?” at the sight of the small space of cushion he was provided. Jason’s scarred up shoulders lifted in a shrug and paired it with a wink which made Tim shake his head in laughter. 

Tim adjusted himself between Jason’s legs, picked up his laptop from the table, popped in the charger, and leaned back against Jason’s chest with the laptop against his thighs. “Is the computer screen gonna bother you?” Tim cocked his head up toward Jason’s.  


“Nah, I can sleep through light. It’s the sound of the show when waking up that isn’t the greatest.” Jason wrapped one arm around Tim’s waist and the other laid against the boy’s side near his hip. At that, Tim picked up the remote and turned the volume down to just barely audible. He hit play and glanced at Jason’s slowly blinking eyes for approval. Jason bent his head down to whisper into Tim’s ear, “That’s perfect, Baby Bird.” Tim shivered before Jason added a mumbled, “thank you” and concentrated on sleeping. 

Jason could feel Tim’s head shift back and forth from his computer to the TV screen. He almost reprimanded Tim until he heard a quick eight-beat sporadic tapping against plastic. Typing. Tim was working. He was still watching, but he was working now. That’s all he cared about at the moment. Jason tightened his hold on Tim’s waist and snuggled his chin into the boy’s neck. The rapid tapping and soft lull of the TV melded together into Jason’s mind as he slipped into a slowed heart rate and dozed off. 

...

_Thwack!_

_Thwa-crunch!_

_Thwack!_

_“Ahhhhhhhh!-Hahahahahaha!”_

_Bam! Bam!_

_What is this? What’s going on?_

_Oh no…_

_Pain. Sharp pains. Sharp, piercing pains located all over his face, his head, his torso, his back, his legs._

_Eyesight is shotty. Can’t make out any details. Basic shapes. Think of the basic shapes. Large boxes. A door. There’s a door directly in front of him. Windows. Not many._

_Colors. Gray. Black. White. Red. A lot of red. The red is the closest to him. Sh-..._

_That smell. He knows that smell. It’s coming from the red color. It’s strong. Thick. The smell is so strong he can taste it. Wait-no. He can taste it. It’s-it’s in his mouth. It’s dripping from his mouth. It’s…_

_Fuck. Blood. It’s blood. His mouth is filled with it. He’s drooling blood. It’s all over. Is it all from-from him? Blood is splattered across the floor. The trail. Follow its trail. Back. To…_

_“Jaaaason.”_

_...Himself._

_“Ohh, Jaaaason.”_

_He’s bleeding. Tick. To death. Tick. There’s an annoying tick. Ticking from somewhere. Somewhere-tick-across the room. It’s near-tick-the door. It’s...repeating. Tick-it’s…_

_Tick. “Hahahaha! Ohhhehe-tick-hehehe!”_

_Tick. Where is he? He’s always here. Tick. Why isn’t he here?_

_Breathing… Breathing is… Tick. It’s too fa... He’s-tick-panicking himself. Now is not the. Tick-time to. Hyperven… Tick. Breathe. Have to. Save-tick-breath._

_Tick. Dammit! Where is he! Tick._

_“BATMA-”cough! Cough! Tick. Blood. The blood is clogging his-tick-throat. Clots of it spill onto the floor-tick-with each hack._

_Tick. Too much. Tick. Lost too much. Can’t… Tick. Can’t lose cont-cough! Tick-cough! Gasp-cough!_

_Tick. He’s always here. Tick. He’s always here. Tick. He’ll be here._

_Tick. Tick. Is it speeding-tick-up?_

_Tick. No. Tick. No. It-tick-can’t._

_Gas-tick-p, “Bat”-tick-”man!” Cough! Tick. Gasp! Tick. Gasp! Tick. Cough!_

_Tick. He’ll be-tick-here. Tick. He-tick-has-tick-to-tick-be-tick._

_“Please.” Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick._

_The door. Tick. It shou-tick-ld move. Tick. Tick. Move-tick._

_Ticktickticktick-“Bruce…” Ticktickticktick-gasp-tickticktickticktickticktick-_

“BRUCE! PLEASE!” 

He couldn’t feel anything except for the stinging in his eyes. His body was frozen in the darkness of the room. There was a sound coming from his right, but he couldn’t dare to turn to look in its direction. 

He didn’t even dare to blink. His eyes stung, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. He saw nothing and everything in the moment. The dark wall he faced was also a pitch black hole filled with nothing. 

He felt nothing and everything. The pain, the shudders, the numbness, the cold, the dead. 

A tear slipped down his cheek and it seemed to poke at a nerve. It was a nerve in his left pinky. His pinky twitched and it sent sparks through his right hip. Then it trailed to his ring finger, to his wrist, through his forearm. It traveled across his stomach and awoke the nerves through his abdomen and his pelvis which shocked his middle finger alive on his right hand. 

Then gradually, jerking that finger, the nerves woke up one by one in his arm, through his shoulder, his rib cage. A shiver split down his spine from the back of his head and it shook his body out of its shock entirely. 

Random joints twitched until he could feel that his body was in one piece again. He raised his right arm, shaking, and tapped at his ear, his cheek, his mouth, then his chin, and dropped his arm back to his side. 

He blinked. It felt more like he was spazzing, but he blinked and kept blinking until he could move his eyes and roughly scan his surroundings. He could finally feel his lungs burning too-

The sound of an explosion twisted his body around to his right. 

The television. 

That was the sound. He needed to shut that off. Tim shouldn’t even be watc-.

Tim. Where was Tim? Tim was right here. He was holding Tim. Tim was laying on him before. Tim wasn’t there now. Tim was the one still watching the show. Where was Tim?

He tried calling Tim’s name, but it came out as a hoarse whisper. He tried calling again and his voice cracked. No sound. No footsteps. No verbal response. Jason stood up and jerked his head around frantically looking for any sign of the boy. There was yelling and gunshots coming from the show that only sent Jay more into a panic and he quickly fumbled the remote into his shaking hands and pressed the “off” button as quickly as he could. He let the remote drop to the floor then made his way behind the couch and into the entrance way. 

Wait. Tim’s computer. It should’ve still been on the couch, right? He turned around to look back at the couch, but didn’t see the computer there. It wasn’t on the floor or the table either, so he turned back to the entrance way and made a quick 360 degree view of his surroundings. The hoodie that should have been draped on one of the chairs in the kitchen was gone, but his backpack was still on the seat of the chair. Jason rushed over to the bag and unzipped the top to find the laptop inside. Okay. That was settled. 

Jason scanned the table next. Tim’s keys to the mansion were still there. So he’d left? He took his hoodie, but forgot his keys? No. That didn’t make sense. That wasn’t like Tim.

Jason went over towards the coffee maker by the fridge, but that hadn’t been drunken any more than earlier. Tim’s empty mug that Jason made him leave on the counter still sat by the rim of the sink. That lead him to finding Tim’s phone, still plugged into the wall, on the counter by the spice rack. Tim never went anywhere, _anywhere_ without his phone. Where the hell was he?

“Tim!” Jason could finally call out his name in an audible manner, but was still met with no response. He entered each room of the warehouse calling for the boy. Still nothing. 

The “what if”s were all starting to bubble up and pile onto each other in his head. It wasn’t all that normal for him to go insane over made-up scenarios, but something in him refused to toss out the idea that something had happened to his baby bird. Something bad had happened that he’d slept through and now Tim was gone. He had no way of contacting him and no clue where to go. He’d checked the door, the windows, the blankets, the books. Aside from the hoodie, not one thing was out of place from before. 

“Timothy!” Jason stood still in the living room once more and waited for something to give him a clue as to where to go. He let out a loud grunt, “This isn’t funny, kid. The hell’d’ya run off to!” 

Jason wiped his palms over his eyes and stripped away the combination of tears and sweat that had accumulated on his face. He gripped at his hair. The space around him felt like it was closing in and spinning. _'Easy there, Jay. No time for this.'_ He thought to himself and decided to think about his breathing. His breaths were short and stiff and it was hurting his lungs. 

Using the methods he’d been taught when he was a child in the old Bat’s care, he steadied himself rather quickly and regained his composure. Then he headed into his bedroom and put his boots on. Something, out of caution or habit, he didn’t know, told him to grab his leg holsters and guns, and his hood. He clipped the holsters on with ease and carried the hood out with him back to the living room. 

Jason picked his jacket up off the floor as he moved more toward the center of the living room. He slid his arms through the jacket sleeves as if they were apart of his own skin. If he had no way of contacting Tim using technology, he’d have to do it the old-fashioned way. Well, not so old-fashioned, but it was a little trickier tracking down Red Robin without the ear comms. The kid was quick. He could be anywhere by this point, but Jason had to give it a shot. 

He tugged at each arm cuff, put his gloves on, slicked his hair back, and held his hood up over his head- _click._

Jason cursed under his breath as he moved, placing his back against the wall by the door, and listened. The door had opened and before he could catch himself, he’d dropped his helmet, and pulled out a gun to point at the intruder.

He stormed toward the front door, gun loaded, aimed at the unknown man on the other side of the door. He gripped the edge of the door and swung it open with such force that it slammed against the wall. 

A young man “Eep!”d and fell backwards onto the ground. “Woah, Jason! Woah…” The young man held his hands up in surrender at an infuriated Jason Todd. 

Jason released his grip from the door and hung his arm against his side. His brows pinched so intensely that his eyes became slits. He didn’t drop the gun from it’s position of aiming at Tim on the ground.

The two stared at each other in complete silence. The crickets could be heard from outside the door and for a while that was the only sound that resonated throughout the front entrance of the safehouse. 

Tim finally spoke up with a shaky voice, “I-I thought we were done with the whole-the whole “trying to kill me” nonsense.” 

Jason just glared.

Tim shifted his gaze between Jason’s eyes and the barrel of the gun. “Jay?” It came out as more of a whimper than he’d intended it to, but he didn’t understand what was going on. Why were they back to this? 

Jason gulped and released his finger from the trigger before shoving it back into his holster. He dropped his head and forced himself to close his eyes, but the shock and the anger and the relief and the fear and the gratefulness of Tim being back didn’t make Jason look any calmer. 

“Get up.” Tim heard Jason mumble and he obeyed, adjusting himself into an upright position, and stood in front of the other man. 

Without opening his eyes, Jason could feel Tim’s shivering breathing ahead of him and he lunged forward to lock the smaller boy in his arms. Jason buried his face in Tim’s neck and raised a hand to lay on the back of Tim’s head. 

Tim froze for a second until it clicked that Jason didn’t want to hurt him. He leaned into Jason’s grip then wiggled his arms between their chests and wrapped them around Jay’s neck. 

His lean against Jason’s body encouraged Jason to hold him close like that for a little longer. The silence this time was welcoming, comforting, reassuring. 

Tim was the first to break the silence. He muttered into Jason’s ear, “I’m sorry for leaving without notice. I just needed to clear my head.” He didn’t think Jason could hold him any closer, but somehow he managed to do just that. Tim felt like he was going to suffocate, but he accepted the grip and laid his cheek against Jason’s hair. 

Jason’s hand on Tim’s head lowered to sit between the boy’s shoulder blades. When the man spoke, it was soft and raspy, “Can you promise me something?”

Tim’s brows furrowed in confusion, “Anything.” 

Jason let out a sigh and released his grip on Tim a hair before making his request. He shook his head, “I’m fine if you leave me alone.”  


Tim wasn’t sure what to make of that statement. 

“Just don’t leave me alone with Criminal Minds. Too many explosions and screams.” His voice trailed off by the last few words and he felt Tim latch himself onto his neck once more. His mind had been so overwhelmed at the time, he hadn’t thought about turning the show off.  


“I’m sorry, Jay. I won’t do that again. I swear it.” 

Jason drew back enough to place a kiss on Tim’s cheek, “Just glad I didn’t find you dead.” Tim half chuckled at that. Jason kept a hand on Tim’s waist and brushed the boy’s hair back behind his ear with the other, “Where’d you go off to anyway?” 

Tim twisted his mouth oddly before explaining the case he’d been working on and how frustrated he felt about it. He didn’t want to disturb Jason from sleeping, so instead of using the workout room, which he knew echoed throughout the building, he’d stepped outside to walk off the pent up emotion. 

For the duration of Tim’s story-telling, Jason simply stared at the boy’s rich blue eyes and held onto his waist. When Tim closed off his story he stared back at Jason’s eyes and raised an eyebrow. The man was thinking something mischievous, but Tim couldn’t tell what and that always unnerved him. He hated not knowing 100% what Jason was thinking. On the other hand, while he hated it, he also loved it. It kept him on his toes and made things, eh, interesting. 

Tim’s eyes widened as Jason started closing the space between them and set them up for a kiss. Tim brought his hand from Jason’s neck to his jawline and traced the man’s scarred up cheekbone with his thumb. Their breath bounced off of each other’s faces. 

Then Jason stopped. Tim fluttered his eyelashes, waiting for Jason to close in just a hair more. Their lips were already trembling against each other’s; why wasn’t he coming any closer? Tim waited. If Jason wanted to play this game, then Tim could be patient. 

Until he felt Jason release a low chuckle, “Go find something else to watch. I’ll make us popcorn.” Then with a swift movement, the man was gone and opening up cabinets in the kitchen, and Tim was left awkwardly standing by himself in the entrance way. He blinked a few times before exclaiming, “Seriously?” 

Jason barked out a laugh while Tim grumbled to himself about Jason’s stupid games that kept the boy entertained day in and day out. “C'mon, Baby Bird!” Jason called, "I'll even make you a new pot of coffee."


End file.
